The Media Mirror – this weekend’s press

Several Russian weeklies feature articles and interviews with Russia’s new Ambassador to NATO. There are also reports from the Russian Winter festival in London. On the political front, there are pieces on the coming presidential election, on the &ldquo

In the latest issue of ITOGI weekly, the new Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, defines Russia’s defence goal. He says Moscow wants a transformation of the security system on the Eurasian continent that would make NATO members and Russia capable of a joint reaction to common threats. Rogozin suggests, half-jokingly, that PATO should be created instead of NATO, meaning the Pacific-Atlantic Treaty Organization.

PROFILE magazine also interviews Dmitry Rogozin. He tells the magazine he is ready for a not very pleasant reception in Brussels. However, he continues, “if our partners know me by reputation that means they know I am predictable. That is important for our relations”.

ITOGI features a report from the Russian Winter festival in London. According to the magazine, the event attracted so many people this year that London authorities decided to expand the venue of next year’s event beyond Trafalgar Square.

OGONIOK writes that among the huge crowd in the Trafalgar Square were many recent immigrants from all over the world, including a portion of the 300, 000 Russians living in the UK. The magazine says they asked the MC to speak Russian, sometimes in a very blunt way.

The same weekly profiles an opposition presidential candidate, Andrey Bogdanov. He leads the Democratic Party of Russia. The magazine reminds the readers that in 2005 Bogdanov won his party leader’s seat from Mikhail Kasyanov. Bogdanov runs for president under a unique banner: he believes Russia must become a member of the European Union.

OGONYOK also has an article by Vladimir Ovchinsky, the former Head of the Russian National Bureau of Interpol. He says that the true meaning of Kosovon independence has been lost in the swamp of political correctness. He says the plan to create an independent Kosovo is actually an attempt to set up an independent mafia terrorist state in the centre of Europe. The General attaches an elaborate list of crimes perpetrated by the current Kosovo leadership, together with detailed case records, to support his claim.

In its cover story, PROFILE writes that globalisation has taken the world back to nineteenth-century politics. Major powers are engaged in an imperialist game, where everyone is against everyone else. According to the author, that is the natural path of history and it cannot be opposed.